It may well have been excluded from the hearings, the Court of Quebec found itself at the heart of the study of the bill for the creation of a specialized tribunal in matters of sexual and conjugal violence, during which a series of interveners called on Quebec to broaden the scope of its legislative text.
As soon as the study of Bill 92 opened, the Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, stressed that “the possibility of a lawsuit had been raised” by the Court of Quebec, which opposes the establishment of a specialized tribunal. He then indicated that elected officials “of the Quebec nation” had the “legitimacy” to legislate on the creation of a specialized tribunal and the training of judges. “They even have a duty to do it”, he insisted, saying that they “have the firm intention of completing this reform”.
On the sidelines of the hearings, the Court of Quebec and the Judicial Council published a brief in which they detail their discomfort with the creation of a specialized tribunal and deny themselves to resist “a change in culture”.
Before Minister Jolin-Barrette, the co-chairs of the expert committee on support for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence – which led to the tabling of the report Rebuild trust requesting the establishment of a specialized court – tried to propose a way of passage. “There is a way to agree on a name,” said former Chief Justice of the Court of Quebec Elizabeth Corte. She proposed that the tribunal be called the “Specialized Division for Sexual Violence and Domestic Violence”. “In our opinion, that would solve the situation,” she added.
Along with her, full professor Julie Desrosiers, of the Faculty of Law of Laval University, also called the “irritant” of “lack of communication”. “Eventually, the actors concerned will talk to each other,” she said. She said she perceived “irritants in relation to the outputs of the Chief Justice” in the office of the Minister of Justice. “And when I talk to people [de l’entourage] of the Chief Justice, she felt abrupt by the tabling of the bill. “
As for Minister Jolin-Barrette, he said he was “listening to all the proposals”, which will then be analyzed. Me Corte offered a reminder on this subject. “The main recommendation [du rapport Rebâtir la confiance]is that we have to talk to each other, communicate, work together, stop working in isolation, ”she insisted.
A bill to be broadened
PQ member Véronique Hivon kicked off the day by tabling a petition, the result of the initiative of Lily Thibeault, a survivor of sexual assault. In total, 10,000 people have signed the text calling for the establishment of a specialized court. This approach is parallel to that which led to the publication of an open letter going in the same direction, and which collected 600 signatures.
Ms. Thibeault said that Bill 92 suffered from “very important” omissions, such as “the specialization of prosecutors and police officers” who accompany people who are victims of sexual assault. “But what worries me at the moment is the tension that is felt between the government in power and the judiciary, which gives me the impression that once again we forget the interests of victims who must yet be at the heart of reflections and discussions at the moment, ”she said sorry.
Ms. Hivon recalled that the legislative text relates “essentially” to the training of judges. “We must talk about the training of all stakeholders, whether prosecutors, police officers, those who will accompany the victim,” she asked.
The Grouping of Homes for Women Victims of Conjugal Violence, the Victim Assistance Centers, MM. Corte and Desrosiers also made recommendations in this direction. The Regroupement also asked the Minister to improve the bill “in order to make it more explicit as to the intentions, the guiding principles, but also the services to be deployed upstream and downstream of the Tribunal”.